The following statement was endorsed by the Rutgers AAUP-AFT Executive Council and Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union Executive Board.
The Rutgers faculty unions strongly oppose New Jersey Senate Bills 1292 and 2937. These bills would embed in state law the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) “Working Definition of Antisemitism” document, which falsely conflates criticism of or opposition to Israel and Zionism with anti-Jewish racism. If adopted, the distorted IHRA definition, in the words of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “would likely silence a range of protected speech including criticism of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians” and would also disallow the “sharing (of) differing beliefs about the right to a Jewish state.” This would violate both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 6, of the New Jersey State Constitution.
Antisemitism—overwhelmingly driven by white supremacists—is, of course, a legitimate concern, and reports of harassment, intimidation, and similar actions must be strongly addressed. However, by stipulating the IHRA definition as the basis for determining antisemitism, the bills make clear that the priority is silencing Israel’s critics—including Jews—and not protecting the safety of Jewish New Jerseyans. This is further supported by the fact that, as the ACLU points out, actions of hate or bias against Jews are already covered by existing anti-discrimination laws.
As faculty unions, we are greatly concerned with the profound impact S1292 and S2937 could have on academic freedom and the exercise of our First Amendment rights to free speech, assembly, and the press on the state’s college and university campuses. By enshrining the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its included examples, educators and students could be vulnerable to the threat of administrative and legal discipline in the normal course of assigning readings, discussing current events, and publishing scholarship.
Indeed, the suppression of Palestine advocacy is already happening. Rutgers and other schools across the country have canceled speakers, suspended instructors and staff, sanctioned students for participating in pro-Palestine actions, restricted student speech, and banned student organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Barnard has gone so far as to prohibit students from posting fliers to their own dorm doors. The effect has been to further perpetuate anti-Palestinian racism and erasure of Palestinian identity.
Our effort here aligns with our national unions’ important stand in 2018, when the Trump administration, referencing the IHRA definition, peddled fraudulent charges of antisemitism against organizers of a Palestine solidarity event at Rutgers featuring a Jewish anti-Zionist Holocaust survivor. In response, the American Federation of Teachers, American Association of University Professors, and Rutgers AAUP-AFT leadership issued a joint statement condemning this attempt “to equate advocacy for Palestinians with anti-Semitism” and defending “the free expression of ideas.”
Our unions and all concerned New Jerseyans must respond similarly to the 2024 IHRA threat.